Long Beach readies for Measure N hotel wage law

LONG BEACH - The City Council is set to vote Tuesday to enact a resolution implementing last month's voter-approved wage hike for Long Beach workers in hotels with more than 100 rooms.

The majority of Long Beach voters approved Measure N, which requires the hotels to pay employees a minimum $13 an hour. According to results from the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/Clerk's Office, 64.3 percent of voters said yes to the measure, and 35.7 percent voted no.

Measure N additionally ensures that service charges are remitted to employees that performed the work, gives at least five paid sick days per year to full-time workers and pays an automatic 2 percent annual raise to employees.

The initiative also includes a provision that drops wage mandates if hotels agree to allow employees to unionize.

Measure N will take effect Dec. 21, 10 days after the council adopts its resolution.

The legislation also declares the results of Measure O, an attempt to change the election date for city offices to match the statewide primary schedule. Measure O failed, 45.7 percent to 54.3 percent.

New port headquarters

Council members will also deliberate on an $18.3 million adjustment to the Port of Long Beach's budget.

The increase will allow the port to relocate its headquarters to the old Boeing Co. C-17 facility at 4801 Airport Plaza Drive. Harbor Commissioners approved the move Nov. 5 by a 4-1 vote.

The cost to purchase the 575,000-square-foot building is $14.3 million, and tenant improvements are expected to add $9.1 million, according to a memorandum. Moving costs will add another $1 million, pushing the total to $24.3 million. Port officials budgeted $6 million for the move as a placeholder, necessitating the additional appropriation.

When the council approved the port budget in September it added a provision requiring the port to return for approval for such as an expense, conceivably for more fiscal control for a headquarters relocation that has proved controversial.

In 2011, a deal to buy the World Trade Center fell through when it failed to attract a majority vote of commissioners.

Mayor Bob Foster vetoed a plan to build a $220 million port headquarters in 2010, dismissing it as an opulent "Taj Mahal" design. He has also claimed that commissioners have in the past been fixated on moving to the World Trade Center, while not diligently considering other sites.

EMS update

The Long Beach Fire Department will also update the council on the implementation of an alternative Emergency Medical Services staffing used to help save $1 million in the city's budget.

A report on the switch's status was not available at press time.

Savings in the plan, which requires county regulatory approval, were drawn by pairing paramedics with lesser-trained EMS technicians in ambulances instead of having two-paramedic teams on most units. The proposal also placed a paramedic on each of the city's fire engines.

Fire department leaders said the change will shorten response times by ensuring a paramedic responds to every call. Opponents say two paramedics can back each other up while performing complex medical procedures an EMS responder may not be certified to perform.

The process of shifting Long Beach's EMS model will take most of 2013.

A written plan must be cleared by the county's EMS Commission and discussed in public meetings.

If approved, the LBFD would likely be required to participate in a two-year trial period, officials said.

The council has used surplus funds to backfill the LBFD's budget while the model is being implemented.